As much as I'd love a Berlin or Dresden team... Why would a German team leave the safety of the DEL? Its big business and is very well supported? Unless they were taken over like Jokerit I couldn't see it with one of the established teams
Of course there is no reason for DEL club to leave. On the other hand, there was no reason for Jokerit to leave as well. Yes, Rotenbergs bought Jokerit and have financed the team, but without Harkimo it would not be possible. As I know Harkimo has had a vision of pan-european league for many many years, even when KHL was not established. So, he just joined the project, the KHL, which can fulfil his vision. Money is not a problem. They will always find a sponsor, Russian, German, Chinese or even Martian. Does not matter. If there is a will to do something, the way how to achieve it will be found. There is interest from Europe and Asia to join the KHL, but the problem are national hockey federations. We dont know, if the interest is from classic European clubs or brand new like Lev. Asia is less complicated, national hockey federations have no problem with KHL team on their territory. I guess brand new clubs from Asia will join the KHL.
KHL´s expansion history says that the league is interested in clubs from capital (AIK, Slovan, Medvescak, Kunlun, Jokerit, Lev Prague), because the most influential media are located in the capital. As simple as that. All other rumors (Hamburg, Dresden, Dusseldorf to stay in Germany) are projects of someone from the region, who wants to join the KHL. It is not KHL´s idea. That is a reason why these clubs have never joined the KHL. Can the league change the approach? Of course, but now I dont see any reason to do that.
Another question is - is the KHL interested in classic clubs or brand new, if we are speaking about Europe? The KHL is not in a possition to expand for the sake of expansion anymore. So the league can select what team will strenghten the league and what not. The KHL has some conditions for new clubs - image, financial stability, player roster (potential), arena etc. The image is important here - classic clubs should prevail over brand new one. I dont think the KHL wants to experiment anymore, they will go for 100% - all they want (IMO classic club) or nothing. Plus, it is not easy to get a green light from federation... sure, you can get it for brand new club, but it does not mean you will get a green light a few years later when a brand new club will fail for some reasons and you (KHL) want classic one as substitution (Lev Poprad vs Slovan situation).
We can speculate. If the KHL is interested in club from Berlin (capital), then problem with arena occurs. Eisbaren plays in Mercedes-Benz Arena, the same Alba. Third tenant would be too much and would AEG agree? ... is there any other approriate arena in Berlin? Dont know. Of course, we can analyze other German/European cities like that. I chose Berlin, because we know that the KHL is interested in Germany and Berlin is capital (see above).